1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an information processing method and apparatus, and a medium. More particularly, it relates to an information processing method and apparatus, and a medium in which pre-set processing can be executed on a label bonded as a tag sheet on a desk top screen of a personal computer.
2. Description of Related Art
It has hitherto been a frequent practice to attach a tag sheet as an eye-mark for paper documents, to write a memo on the tag sheet, and to paste it somewhere for use as a reminder. An application program for implementing that idea on a desktop screen of a personal computer has been proposed by the present Assignee. In actuality, a personal computer on which such an application program is pre-installed is on sale. In the following description, a tag sheet displayed on the desktop screen is called a label, and an application program for displaying a label on the desktop is called label software. In such a label, not only text, such as letters, but also speech or pictures, can be handled by exploiting the fact that the label software is an application program on a personal computer. However, a paper tag sheet cannot handle speech or pictures, including moving pictures.
FIG. 1 shows an exemplary representation of a label on the desktop screen. In this figure, not only text, such as letters, but also letters or pictures, can be pasted on the label L. Meanwhile, the label L in a lower portion of FIG. 1 shows the state in which a picture has been pasted in position. If the speech, etc. is pasted on the label L, and a playback button PB, for example, is clicked, e.g., with a mouse, the speech can be reproduced. On the other hand, if a stop button SB is clicked, such as with a mouse, the speech reproduction can be halted.
With the application program (label software) for pasting the label on the desktop, the operation of preparing, moving and deleting the label is possible. Moreover, changes in the text or pictures or speech recording can be performed on the label.
Meanwhile, it may occasionally be desirable to paste a variety of information, such as an extremely large amount of text, speech, or pictures on a label on a desktop. However, since the label that can be displayed on the desktop screen can be enlarged only to the size of the desktop screen, it is extremely difficult to display all the information on a label.
On the other hand, in conventional label software, the information that can be pasted on the label is only text, speech, and pictures, while other information cannot be pasted.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an information processing method and apparatus and a medium in which the information pasted on a label can be recognized, even if a large number of the information is pasted thereon, and in which the information other than the text, speech and the picture can be pasted e.g., indirectly.
In one aspect, the present invention provides an information processing apparatus comprising: (1) link information generating means for generating the link information indirectly representing the object information and/or other information; (2) storage means for storing the information of a pre-set processing unit into which said object information and/or other information can be pasted; (3) regenerating means for regenerating the state of said pre-set processing unit; and (4) acquisition means for acquiring said object information and/or other information based on said link information.
In another aspect, the present invention provides an information processing method comprising:
a link information generating step for generating the link information indirectly representing the object information and/or other information;
a storage step for storing the information of a pre-set processing unit in which said object information and/or other information can be pasted;
a regenerating step for regenerating the state of said pre-set processing unit; and
an acquisition step for acquiring said object information and/or other information based on said link information.
In yet another aspect, the present invention provides a medium for permitting an information processing apparatus to execute a program including
a link information generating step for generating the link information indirectly representing the object information and/or other information;
a storage step for storing the information of a pre-set processing unit in which said object information and/or other information can be pasted;
a regenerating step for regenerating the state of said pre-set processing unit; and
an acquisition step for acquiring said object information and/or other information based on said link information.
With the information processing method and apparatus and the medium according to the present invention, the link information, indirectly representing the object information and/or the other information is generated, and the information of a pre-set processing unit, in which to paste the object information and/or the link information, is stored. The state of the pre-set processing unit is regenerated and the object information and/or the other information is acquired based on the link information. By so doing, if a large number of the information is pasted on e.g., a label as a pre-set processing unit, it becomes possible to recognize which information has been pasted. In addition, the information other than the text, speech or the picture can be pasted indirectly.